Wicked
by balakafalata
Summary: Tom's school days. His friends, his crushes, his mentors, and his betrayal. Loosely based on the broadway show, Wicked.
1. Prologue

**Are people born wicked?**

**Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?**

Tom Riddle was, surprisingly, exactly what one would call normal. Besides the fact that he lived in an orphanage, there was nothing odd about him. He had forgettable dark hair and dark eyes; he was neither large nor small, neither tall nor short, just average. He was soft-spoken, and he did his schoolwork well; he never got into fights with the other children. In fact, the strangest thing that has ever happened to him happened in early July, before his eleventh birthday. At least, that's what everyone else thought.

It was hot and sunny that day, so after breakfast the children all went outside, except Tom. He decided to stay inside that day. When he was reading, all of a sudden a brown barn owl flew through the window. It dropped a heavy envelope into his lap and flew away. Tom stared at the parchment and seal, but opened it anyway.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Armando Dippet

Dear Mr. T.M. Riddle

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.

Yours sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Deputy Headmaster

There was in fact a list enclosed, but Tom did not read it yet. Despite the fact that every 'normal' person knows that there is no such thing as magic, Tom never questioned the authenticity of the paper in his hands, neither did he tell anyone about it. He simply waited.

* * *

The day that things really changed was only a week later. That was when Tom met Him. He was the picture ideal of a wizard; a long beard that he could tuck into his belt, colorful robes, half-moon glasses and a twinkle in his eyes. He was Albus Dumbledore, and Tom would do anything to impress this man.


	2. Chapter 1 part 1

**Yay to DefyingGravitywJB! I did realize that I forgot a disclaimer last chapter sorry. I do not own the Harry Potter Characters or the Wicked concept.**

**Nothing matters  
But knowing nothing matters  
It's just life**

Dumbledore, however did not take him far. After explaining why he was there, he brought Tom out to the yard and took hold of his shoulder. There was a jerk and Tom felt as though he was being sucked through a twisty, kid's straw. They ended up outside of a large house. A plaque on the side identified it as 'The Potter Estate'.

"Well then my boy" he started "this nice family will take you to get all of your school supplies. They have a son your age, so you will know someone when you start school."

Tom only replied in an awed voice "Thank you, sir."

Dumbledore walked Tom up to the door and knocked. A young woman opened the door for him. Another woman was walking down a grand staircase. She was wearing a nice gown and that was what made Tom take in his surroundings. Everything was pristine and spotless. Tom felt out of place in the surroundings and was dreading that the kid his age was a spoiled brat, like the kids that jeer at the orphans when they play at the local park.

"Ah, Mrs. Potter" Dumbledore greeted the woman walking down the stairs.

"It is good to see you again, Professor." She turned to Tom. "Is this the boy?" Now she turned to him. Tom could feel the tips of his ears burning. "Hello there, young man. I'm Marie Potter. Welcome to my home." She held out her hand and Tom kissed the back, like he had seen in an old movie. She laughed.

"It is a pleasure to be here, ma'am." He had never thought that he would be in a situation where he had to put the manners instilled in him by the orphanage to use.

"Well" Tom had almost forgotten Dumbledore's presence, "Now that we are all acquainted, this is where I leave you Mr. Riddle. You know what to do Madam Potter."

"Oh, yes, goodbye professor. I will take good care of young Mr. Riddle for you"

He had twirled around and left before Tom could get another word in. He was left for a while with one thought. 'Did he not really care about me?' Getting him could have been Dumbledore's job, a responsibility, not something he wanted to do.

He was startled from his thoughts by Mrs. Potter. "We should get going Mr. Riddle. Marcus, come down, we're leaving soon."

An eleven year old boy version of the woman came running down the stairs, smiling.

"Hello, I'm Marcus Potter. Nice to meet you." He greeted cheerfully

"H-hi, I'm Tom Riddle. It's nice to meet you too." This was strange. The other children had never been mean to him, but they had never been particularly friendly either. Tom usually kept to himself.

"Come on; let's go we don't want to be late." Marcus grabbed Tom's sleeve, but instead of pulling him to the door, they went to the main living room and stood in front of the fireplace. Marcus grabbed an ornamented pot from above the fireplace and showed it to Tom.

"This is floo powder. We use it to travel distances. What you do is just say the name of the place you want to go, then step into the fireplace."

"INTO the Fireplace!? Won't that hurt?"

"No, no it won't hurt. There isn't really a fire in it, you just travel between the fire places. I'll go first to make sure you land safely. We're going to Diagon Alley. Just speak clearly, keep your eyes closed and elbows in and you'll be fine." Marcus took a handful of the powder that was in the jar, turned and through it into the fireplace saying very clearly "Diagon Alley." He stepped into the fireplace and was gone. Mrs. Potter, standing behind him sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll help you." After much fussing, Tom finally got through the fireplace and onto the other side, promptly falling flat on his face. At least he didn't wear glasses.

His embarrassment of falling did not last long as he took in his surroundings. Marcus noticed.

"This is the bookstore. The designated floo gate because some people already have money with them and it's close enough to the bank anyway. Students come ere the most."

Once Mrs. Potter came through, they went to Gringotts. It was a large, white, marble building in the center of the alley. There was apparently a private vault for muggle raised students. (A/N sorry but I see no point in writing them going to Gringotts.) After getting the money, Mrs. Potter insisted on them getting their new school robes. They went to Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. There was quite a crowd there but, they weren't allowed to run off.

Once it was their turn, a teenaged girl was scowling at them and telling them to quickly get on the stool so she could put robes over their heads and make the necessary changes. When the girl walked away, Marcus gave a small chuckle.

"That is the future Madam Malkin. She's a sixth year now. She's always been this mean, probably got a few too many needles pricked." He laughed again. That seemed to break the dam and Tom started to open up to him. This worked even better when it came time for Tom to get his wand.

They walked into Ollivander's and heard the tinkling of the bell above the door. There was already a large group of people in the store. It was a young, red-headed couple, but they already had three kids and the woman was very pregnant. They were arguing over the price. The eldest, who was around their age came over and smiled.

"Hey, Marcus." He then noticed Tom's presence "Hello to you too. I'm Michel Weasley."

Tom took another look at the family that obviously had more kids than they could afford, with no intention of stopping anytime soon by the looks of it. Even though their oldest child was eleven, at least, they were still holding hands as they argued the price of their first son's first wand.

"Hello, Michel. I'm Tom Riddle."

The Weasleys did eventually get a more suitably priced wand and left, Michel promising to see them on the train.

"Ah yes next. Finally" Ollivander turned to Tom. "Now, which is your wand arm?"

"M-my right, I guess." Tom stuttered. All of a sudden he was excited. 'He was getting a magic wand.' Ollivander took out a tape measure then left to look through the piles of boxes in the back of the store. Marcus laughed at Tom's startled look when the tape measure lifted itself and started to measure Tom.

Ollivander came back. "I know just the wands for you Mr. Riddle. Here 12 inches oak dragon hide core. Well, give it a wave."

Tom waved the wand and the windows shattered. After only about five wands, which the Potters said was surprisingly few, he found his match. 13 ½ inches yew with a phoenix tail feather core. Ollivander smiled pleasantly as they left, cluelees as to what he had just done.

* * *

This is just part one. I couldn't stop writing!


	3. Chapter 1 part 2

**I started this chapter earlier but then I kinda forgot about it. Oops. Then I started to work on it and realized it was crap. So I scrapped it and redid it and here it is!**

**DefyingGravitywJB: Marcus Potter, Marie Potter, and Michel Weasley are all OCs. I created them for the purpose of this story, because I don't know the real names of anyone in Tom Riddle's time period. **

**O hallowed halls and vine-draped walls  
The proudliest sight there is  
When grey and sere our hair hath turned  
We shall still revere the lessons learned**

"Hello, I'm Marcus Potter. Nice to meet you."

* * *

Tom took another look at the family that obviously had more kids than they could afford, with no intention of stopping anytime soon by the looks of it.

* * *

13 ½ inches yew with a phoenix tail feather core. Ollivander smiled pleasantly as they left, clueless as to what he had just done.

* * *

Tom did not return to the orphanage for the rest of the summer. He stayed with the Potters; Mr. Potter transfigured a bed for him and put it in Marcus' room, and because of an expansion spell put on the room, there was plenty of space for both of them. Over the next few weeks, Tom and Marcus became even closer friends.

Marcus had a lot of fun telling Tom everything that he wanted to know about the wizarding world.

He learned some of the basic rules and boundaries of what magic couldn't do; but he also learned of everything that magic _could_ do. According to Marcus, at Hogwarts they would learn how to make things fly, change objects' appearances, and even how to animate inanimate objects.

It even turned out that witches and wizards really do fly on brooms, but just for fun. Tom was really looking forward to playing Quidditch at Hogwarts. He was going to have to wait though, because there hasn't been a first-year player in fifty years.

"Now we can't even have our own brooms!" Marcus had complained.

Thanks to his parents being magical, he already knew about Hogwarts. He told Tom all about the houses and the ghosts. There were four Hogwarts houses: Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the intelligent, Huffelpuff for the loyal, and Slytherin for the cunning. Each house had its own ghost, but there are also other random ghosts that hang around.

Tom was almost sure that he would be in Slytherin, even though Marcus told him that only purebloods get into Slytherin, but Tom didn't even know who his parents were; they could have been a witch and wizard for all anyone knew.

* * *

Tom looked back at the parents swarming the platform aptly named 'Platform 9 ¾', because they had to run through a wall in between the platforms 9 and 10 in order to get there.

He spotted the redheaded family talking with Mrs. Potter, he never got used to calling her Marie. In fact, most of the mothers were chatting with her, while most of the fathers were chatting with Mr. Potter. They were sharing stories and worries about sending their kids off to school. There was one family that he took notice of, they were aristocratic like the Potters, but they looked at the other families on the platform like they were scum. He would know, as he had seen this look on many of the people that walked past the orphanage while the kids were outside. He decided to ignore them.

Tom boarded the train with Marcus only a few minutes before it left. Most of the front compartments were filled, they found one in the back that was empty.

"Well," Marcus sighed, "that was certainly tiring. All that talking, and politics, not really my thing."

Tom laughed along with him. None of the people on the platform had taken any notice of him. He didn't mind.

"But it must be exciting sometimes, isn't it? Being the center of attention, I mean."

"Nah, it's more annoying than it is exciting… really, it's overrated."

Tom gave him a disbelieving look, but just then someone knocked on the door and it opened to reveal Michel Weasley. He looked surprised, but relaxed when he saw it was Tom and Marcus and not some older students.

"Oh, hi Marcus, Tom. All the other compartments are full."

"It's fine. Come on, sit down. The Candy Cart is about to come by." Marcus reassured him.

Michel sat heavily into the seat next to Tom, and Tom smiled tentatively at him.

When the cart came to them, Marcus bought some of everything on the cart and they shared it. Marcus and Michel both told more stories about Hogwarts and their summers'.

"So, wait. Did Aeron _put_ the ants into the sugar bowl or he _turned_ the sugar into ants?" Marcus asked at Michel's story from the summer about his four-year old brother who just started to figure out that he could make things happen just by wishing for it.

"That's the funny part. I have no idea, and mum doesn't have a clue either. None of us have any idea why he wanted to put ants in the sugar bowl in the first place. It's kind of odd."

"But it was a great prank." Marcus laughed. "I wish I could have seen the look on your mum's face when she found it!"

"Does it really matter, though? Whether or not he transfigured the sugar or put the ants into it, I mean." Tom asked, puzzled.

"Oh. You don't know, do you?" Michel answered, "It's not really that important. Well, everyone does accidental magic when they are younger, but the type of magic they do when they are young tells you what they will be good at when they get older. If Aeron really did transfigure the sugar, then that means he will be good at transfiguration and stuff; but if he put the ants in there, then that means he is more powerful and will be able to do more difficult spells." He shrugged, and Marcus continued.

"Not many people pay attention to that as kids change when they get older. What someone is good at when they are little can change when they get to school."

"And speaking of school," Michel spoke up, excitement clear in his voice, "I think the train is slowing down. We must be almost there"

They trio left the train and made sure they stuck together so as not to be swept away in the sea of students heading toward the other end of the station. A loud voice carrying over the crowd called to all of the first year students. They piled into boats at the dock of a large lake. The boats stayed together, gliding along the lake.

"Look! In the water!" Marcus shouted and all of the students looked over the sides of the boats, almost tipping them to get a look into the water.

"What was it? A boy from a few boats away asked, "Was it the squid?"

"It had to be! There was definitely something there!"

"Hey! Be careful, I don't want any of you kids falling into the water. Then you'll get a real good look at the squid." Said their guide, a tall, thin, elfish-looking man.

Appropriately cowed, everyone stayed in the boats until they got the first look at the castle beyond the lake. It was enormous, the lights inside were flickering and they couldn't wait to see the magnificence from the inside. They were herded to a hallway, in front of a set of double doors. In front of the doors was the man Tom had rarely stopped thinking about. Everyone knew his name, but Marcus hadn't known anything but vague stories.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." Said one Albus Dumbledore. "This can be your home for the next ten months, seven years, or even your entire life. It is entirely your decision. However, while you are here, you will be living with your House. Your house-mates are your family and your confidants. At the end of the year, a house cup will be awarded to the house with the most points. You gain points by helping others or any other time that a teacher or prefect believes you deserve them. You can lose points, as well, by breaking rules." He suddenly stopped his speech, looking into space for a second. It seemed that no one noticed the distant look in his eyes, and Tom quickly dismissed it "Ah, it seems that it is time for the sorting."

They entered the Great Hall, feeling self-conscious as the entire student body was staring at them. There were whispers coming from every corner of the room. They lined up in the aisle.

Dumbledore came out and placed a small stool with a hat on it in the center of the stage. The entire school stared at the hat, as if waiting for something to happen. The rim of the hat opened and it began to sing.

* * *

Semi-cliffy. I don't have time to make up a song for the hat. I _will_ make up my own song, it may suck, but it will happen. I just don't know when. Review please! It might inspire me.


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